In February 1818, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born, as a slave in Holme Hills, in Talbot County, Maryland. Harriet Bailey, his mother was also a slave.His father Aaron Anthony his master, though its unclear, may have been his father.
By 1827, he learned to read from his masters wife, Sophia Auld, and in 1831 he was reading newspapers, in particular his memory of reading John Adam's antislavery petition in congress, caught his attention, as well as the works on abolitionist movements. Reading really shaped him into wanting freedom and in 1836, in his first attempt to escape, he was caught, after learning from his mistakes from the first time he planned his second escape in 1838, but this time he succeeded, and wasn't captured. Also in 1838 he found more than freedom but he also found his wife Anna Murray and changed his past name to Johnson. With growing confidence Douglass began public speaking on issues such as Slavery and how it should be abolished. In 1845, he began a world tour basically, to talk to people on how slavery should end, a few places he traveled to were Ireland and Great Britain. And overtime he became a significant leader in the rights for Slaves to become free.